"It was the first close game we've had that Kemba wasn't there," center Alex Oriakhi said. "Last year, we gave Kemba the ball and moved out of the way."

On Friday, the fourth-ranked Huskies, returning seven scholarship players with national championship rings, had zero answers.

UConn squandered a 17-point second-half lead and lacked any semblance of defensive prowess -- its staple for years -- or offensive organization down the stretch as it fell to unranked Central Florida 68-63 in the Battle 4 Atlantis semifinal.

"That right there, that wasn't UConn defense," Oriakhi said.

Jim Calhoun told the media the same thing he told his team: Look at the numbers. Central Florida scored 16 times in its final 22 possessions. Conversely, UConn scored in three of 15 times down the court. The Huskies, seemingly rattled by UCF's zone defense, went scoreless from the 7:38 mark of the second half until 1:03 remained. By that time, UConn had already surrendered the lead, and unlike the Huskies, the Knights never eased up.

"It was almost surreal to watch how we played -- or how we didn't play," Calhoun said.

With 16 minutes remaining, Oriakhi -- who had been parked on the Huskies bench for the majority of the past few games -- grabbed an offensive rebound, muscled through a defender, converted the layup and drew the foul. The Huskies bench exploded; Kevin Ollie gave a fist pump you'd expect to see in an NCAA Tournament -- not the Battle 4 Atlantis.

Tyler Olander pounded his chest and screamed.

Simultaneously, UCF guard Marcus Jordan -- the son of Michael Jordan -- was assessed a technical foul. Jeremy Lamb (team-high 15 points) knocked down both free throws and Oriakhi hit his to complete the five-point play and give UConn a commanding 50-33 lead.

Jordan, living up to the family name, never lost his cool again. And, as Calhoun put it, UCF's "run turned into an avalanche." The Huskies were outscored 35-13 the rest of the way.

In practice, Jordan said the Knights play "four-minute segments" to simulate the media timeouts. When the Huskies lead grew to 17, the Knights "wanted to win every four minutes" and, eventually, win the game.

A Jordan lay-up with 5:33 to play gave Central Florida a 57-56 lead, its first advantage since the score was 8-7. For most of the second half, he attacked the basket with ease and, most importantly, calmly iced six free throws in the final 3:11 -- just as his father did countless times.

"Somebody at the end of the game, they said I was going to miss one," Jordan said. "I made them and told them that `it was in my blood' just joking around." Although he's not a believer in the "clutch gene," Jordan wasn't too fazed by the importance of his late-game free throws.

"I'm never thinking about who we're playing," Jordan said. "I'm just thinking about knocking two free throws down."

Jordan also helped limit UConn's backcourt duo -- magnificent through five games -- to 7-of-23 shooting from the field and 2-for-13 from behind the arc. In previous games, Shabazz Napier and Lamb bailed out a stagnant Huskies offense with 3-pointers as the shot clock winded down. On Friday, they took those shots, but they simply didn't fall.

Napier committed seven of UConn's 13 turnovers (the Huskies have had more turnovers than assists in five of six games) and fully accepted blame for the loss.

"Most of the time guys won't get blamed individually, but I think this loss is on me," Napier said. "Honestly, I lost the game for the team. I made a lot of bad turnovers and a lot of bad plays."

UConn, which had trouble closing out its first five opponents -- "we're up 19 or 20 and instead of getting it to 30, we let it get down to 10," Calhoun said -- lacked that killer instinct again.

"(People say) `Why are you yelling at them when they're up on Coppin State by 20 in the second half?'" Calhoun said. "Today, they were up 17 and it got them a loss."

In the end, UCF forward Tristan Spurlock was the one yelling. When he was fouled with nine seconds remaining, he stood in front of press row, looked out to the UConn fans scattered about the right side of Imperial Arena, and screamed in exhilaration. UCF big man Keith Clanton, who scored 20 points against Oriakhi and Andre Drummond, embraced his teammate.

And, in that moment, a 16-game win streak -- a run that included NCAA tournament and Big East tournament championships -- snapped. There will be no trophy-raising for UConn at the inaugural Battle 4 Atlantis.

"We have a lot to learn," said Oriakhi, who broke out of a slump with 14 points, 10 rebounds and five blocks. "Hopefully, we can take this and bounce back from it."